Laser Shone at F15

[planesonthenet]

20:00z
F15 landing at RAF Lakenheath had unauthorised green laser shone at it over Brandon 6 mile final into runway 24.

ATARI callsign i believe reported incident.

[Blackcat1]

Utter idiots!!! Why wish I could swear on here lol

[MRTT]

Your joking me!? This is mental, hope the Police catch the tw**s!

[planesonthenet]

Unfortunately its all confirmed.

[colt99]

More important than giving scum like that the airtime, does anyone know if the crew are ok and got down without problem?

[planesonthenet]

All crew and aircraft ok. Do believe only the aircraft HUD was slightly affected.

[colt99]

All crew and aircraft ok. Do believe only the aircraft HUD was slightly affected.

Thanks

[baz1]

I remember years ago one dark winter night there was a chinook operating out of Waddington he was on his way back in when the tower asked him to keep an eye out as they had had reports of lights been shone at aircraft on his way in he had one shone at him from some woods so he just turned his search light on an hovered above two youths who had run into a derelict building untill the police arrived and arrested them. very interesting listening to that on a winters evening.

[wave scanner]

Sadly this is not a new phenomenon!
On a slightly off topic note I heard a couple of incidents in 2003 at Fairford
Where the anti war protesters were shining lasers at the pavehawk pilots at night.

[Blackcat1]

A lot of this has happened to airline pilots going into Cardiff recently too

[rh226]

And one of the STRIX MC-130Js reported the same over Bury St Edmunds a few days ago (buried somewhere in one of the threads on here)

[WAP]

"I've got a great idea, lets shine a laser at a military aircraft?!

Yeah one fitted with its own laser............camera, gun, missile and bombs!

[Nighthawke]

In that case I hope the 6 miles out is correct rather than over Brandon - as one who lives on the approach! Even the a bit close

Seriously I hope these f***wits are caught. Doesn't matter what or who but this is a bit close to home.

I recall back in the early 80s when the Victors were at Sculthorpe while Marham was resurfaced, a similar thing with a high-powered "torch" or lamp. Idiot was named and shamed and charged I believe with endangering aircraft and lives

[Steven]

Moved to the mess as seems more appropriate in here.

[TankBuster]

These things should be made illegal!

I have seen star gazers using these lasers to point out star constellations in the sky, all very innocently I guess, but the risk of them inadvertently lighting up an aircraft must be quite high.

And, then of course we have the mindless idiots who deliberately shine them at aircraft for fun. I hope the offender is caught and dealt with appropriately .

TankBuster

[welshandy]

I've started a petition on 38deg asking UK Gov to look at this issue. Not sure it will do any good but at least I tried.

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/laser-pens

[Blackcat1]

Well done Andy

[Andy_99]

I seem to recall this happening to Apache's around SPTA as few years back as well, both lasers & high power torches.

Wouldn't it be great to for one of the aircraft's self defence systems to gain a lock on the source & deal with it once & for all :-) TIC

Seriously though, it was in the news about a Virgin Atlantic Pilot or FO being hit by a laser a couple of weeks ago & the flight having to be aborted & the return to Heathrow flown by the other crew member. Not really an option on a Single seater or maybe even a 2 seater where the WSO hasn't the required controls to take over the flying.

[Johno]

I find it a bit worrying that an off the shelf item can potentially "take out" the pilot of a state of the art military aircraft, I can see bulk orders being taken from certain parts of the globe as we speak !

[Andy_99]

I find it a bit worrying that an off the shelf item can potentially "take out" the pilot of a state of the art military aircraft, I can see bulk orders being taken from certain parts of the globe as we speak !

In Theatre Mil pilots do have various buts of kit to negate the effect, & also have big sticks to show the baddies the error of their ways.